Licensing & Technology Transfer, Spring 2010

Course Description

This course covers a study of licensing in the following types of licenses:
patent, copyright, trademark, know-how, and digital information.

Generally Applicable Syllabus Information

Please read carefully the Generally
Applicable Syllabus Information. This document sets forth course policy
for attendance, preparation and participation, use of computers, examination
and grading, and other items. A complete understanding of this document
is necessary to take full meaning from the Class Schedule and Other Information
set forth immediately below.

Certain documents may be assigned from time to time from sources other
than the casebook. These documents will be provided via links in the
class assignment table below or in a separate page of class links. Paper
copies of these documents will typically not be provided in class, so
students should plan to print them or review them electronically.

Prerequisites

IP Survey, Patent Law, or Copyright Law

Grading:

The course grade will be primarily based on an open-materials
final exam.

"Primarily" means that at least 95% of
the course grade will be based on the final exam. Probably 100% of the
course grade will be based on the final exam, but I want to have given
notice of the possibility of a small percentage of the grade coming
from other sources, most likely one or more small exercises.

Notwithstanding the above, my assessment of your in-class participation
performance will not be a component of your grade.

Brief Description of Coverage:

This class will meet in two 1.5 credit-hour blocks each
week. Assignments will be detailed in the table below as the semester
progresses.

Absences Limit:

Assuming two class meetings a week, six or less absences
constitutes attendance meeting the eighty percent requirement. More
than six absences means that the eighty percent requirement is not met.
Attendance will be taken via a roll sheet passed throughout the class
each session.

I will audio tape the class sessions using a portable recorder attached
to my person and post links to the audio tracks on the class web site
for the sole and limited educational purpose of allowing students to
stream the recorded sessions to review or to enable students who missed
a class to hear the class presentation. Any audio tracks created will
be deleted and destroyed shortly after the final exam for the class.
Since I call on students, there is a slight chance that your contributions
to class discussion, whether voluntary or while on call, may be included
in the audio recording. The chance is slight because the recording technology
I use does a poor job of picking up any voices other than my own. Your
continued registration in this class indicates your acquiescence to
any such incidental recording for the purposes described above unless,
if you have concerns about this, you come speak with me as soon as possible
but in no event later than the first day of the second week of class.

Cancellation Day(s)

Thursday, March 25, 2010
Thursday, April 8, 2010

Makeup(s) for Cancelled Day(s):

Friday, January 29, 2010 (same time and room)
Friday, February 26, 2010 (same time and room)

Trademark Law

Course Coverage Table

The table linked below provides the detailed assignments for this course.
It also may provide links to materials for each class and other items related
to the course. In order to allow flexibility in the class, assignments beyond
those posted for the next week are subject to change; therefore, students
who may wish to read ahead are urged to contact the professor before doing
so. The rate of progress through the modules depends on the class dynamics.

Class presentation slides are provided as links below in association with
each module title. I will generally have the slides available a day or two
before the material for that class. If students want hardcopy of the slides
for use during class, please download and print the linked slides file.

After each class session, the class date will become a hyperlink to the
audio for that class.

The casebook makes some use of "problems" - which in many cases
are fact patterns adopted from actual cases. The problems' purpose is to
illustrate twists in doctrine and provide additional context. When a problem
is included in the assigned reading, there is no reason to write out an
answer to the problem. Rather, it is sufficient to think about the problem
and if desired make a few notes. Problems in the assigned reading may be
the focus of class discussion, but will not always be touched upon in class.

Case names are listed in the table below as assignments. Sometimes there
are several paragraphs of introduction before the case when the case is
the lead case in a new subheading in the book. These introductory paragraphs
are part of the assignment and should be read along with the case.

Revision to Generally Applicable Syllabus:
Call assignment for cases is by individual using the first letter of the
last name, proceeding alphabetically most of the time. In some instances,
multiple persons share the same first letter of the last name, in which
case a number indicates who the person is based on alphabetical order. If
a person assigned to a case does not appear for a class session, the first
person listed for the next class day will take that person's place. Adjustment
of individual case assignments may occur up to mid-evening (around 7 pm)
of the night before class. After a person has discussed a case in class,
the letter indicating the assignment will be changed to upper case.

Students must email me if they will not attend in
order for this system to work well.

The call group assignment list will be posted here for downloading as
a .pdf file, with a password required to open the file. That password will
be given out in class.

In the table each casebook assignment is given a page range to go with
the assignment title. Unless the "Comment/Note" column indicates
otherwise, read the entire assignment, encompassed on the indicated pages,
including any notes or associated problems.